


spooky action at a distance

by geneeste



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Platonic Soulmates, but you have my blessing to interpret this as romantic if that's your jam, you do you babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21823798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geneeste/pseuds/geneeste
Summary: She found Diggle first.
Relationships: John Diggle & Felicity Smoak
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	spooky action at a distance

**Author's Note:**

> Brief mentions of blood (nothing at all gory). Soulmate AU (but platonic soulmates). Sooo - here’s a silly little thing about soulmates, platonic to start with. I’m not sure where it came from, and it kind of meanders, but I like ‘em weird. Probable future Team Arrow, probable future Oliver/Felicity, but this one’s just Diggle & Felicity (this is assuming, of course, I ever add more). Probably goes without saying, but this is unbeta’d, so all mistakes are mine.

She found Diggle first.

That's the thing about soulmates: they're not always romantic. And you don't always get just one - sometimes you're linked to several people, so bonded that you have to live your lives together, share each other like they're a family you're born into (in a way, you are born into it, which is good for Felicity because she has precious little actual blood family left).

But it's not always clear right away what the nature of the bond is. With Diggle, she'd clicked with him immediately, on her first day at Queen Consolidated walking through his security checkpoint. She'd felt that pull, but she'd never felt it before, and she hadn't known what to make of it.

And it wasn't as if she could go back and say, “Hi, it's nice to meet you! Can you get naked so I can see your mark and find out whether we're soulmates?”

Well, she _could_ , but not even she was that awkward.

So she just sort of went with it. That first week, she went to work early every morning just because she knew it was when Diggle would be there. He seemed happy to see her, would light up like she'd made his day, and she felt encouraged enough that one day she asked him for coffee on one of her breaks. After that, it became a happy routine.

It probably would have gone on like that, her just seeing how things went, no pressure, if it hadn't been for a strange series of events that could have only been fate.

She was late for work, of course. She probably shouldn't have stopped for the giant cup of coffee in her hand, but she was one of those people that had the ‘Should I get coffee?’ flowchart which always ended on ‘Yes!’ stapled to her cubicle wall.

She hadn't really thought anything of taking the shortcut, given the sun was shining bright, and she had clear line of sight from the beginning of the alleyway to the front doors of QC at the end and across the street. Which is why it was so shocking to see the man jump out from behind the dumpster.

The coffee was the first casualty - she dropped the cup in her surprise, and made an outraged squeak when it hit the ground and all her beloved coffee spilled out. Glaring up at the bedraggled man, she sputtered, “What is the matter with you?”

He looked momentarily taken aback, then regrouped. “Give me your stuff, your-your money,” the man stuttered, “do it now, or else.”

That's when she saw the knife. It was short and blunt-looking, but she didn't doubt the the damage it could do. But then she saw the man's shaking hands, and the fact that he actually seemed to be inching slowly away from her hesitantly.

And sure, she was scared, but suddenly she was angrier. She didn't know what his deal was, but where did he get off threatening her when his heart wasn't even in it? If he was going to make her late, the least she deserved was a decent mugging as an excuse. And that might have been the most perverse thing she'd ever thought, but damn it, she hadn't even gotten to drink her coffee.

“Are you kidding me right now?” she yelled.

The man frowned at her. Or at least she thought he was frowning, his face was pretty dirty and his hair was hanging down over his eyes. She was going to start calling him Scraggly Dude. “Lady, did you not hear the ‘or else?’ Your purse, now!”

Felicity ignored him. “This is totally unnecessary and very inconvenient. Why don't you just ask for help, you'd have better luck than with that thing,” she said, gesturing to the knife.

Scraggly Dude seemed to forget he was supposed to be scary, instead moving the hand holding the knife toward her in irritation and letting it fall back to his side. “Oh, really, you'd just hand over your money if I asked nicely?”

“Well, no. It's mine and I earned it. Have you even done this before? I don't think you're cut out for being a mugger. You're not very good at it.”

He drew up indignantly, and she knew she had him. “Hey, I could be great at this. Maybe you're just a crappy victim!”

She made a face at him. “ _Duh_ ,” she said, and then sighed. “Look, I am super late now. Why don't I give you a little money, you let me pass, and I won't call the cops if you agree that'll you never attempt this again? Honestly, I'm only looking out for you here.”

Scraggly Dude visibly deflated. “Fine. Okay. What was it that didn't work for you? Was I not loud enough?”

“I think it’s a general lack of presence,” Felicity said as she dug out some cash. “What's your name?”

“Eugene.”

“Okay Eugene, there's a shelter four blocks west of here. They have counselors. I think you should consider going there.” She held out the cash, and he took it from her gingerly.

“I have to go,” she said. And then as she took a step back to lean down and grab her fallen cup - never let it be said that Smoak women were litterers - her three-inch heel broke.

She tried to correct her balance, but she'd been in an awkward position already being bent over, and only managed to propel herself further backwards rather than up.

It almost seemed to happen in slow motion: Eugene actually lunged toward her in an effort to catch her, but just barely missed her elbow as she fell across the dumpster. Some piece of jagged metal on the dumpster caught her side, and she heard her blouse tear and felt a sharp pain dig into her side, and then she was on the grimy ground, butt sore and skirt probably ruined as well as her blouse and shoes.

She honestly wasn't sure which one she was more upset about.

In the next instant, she heard Diggle’s angry voice. “Step away from her and get on the ground, hands behind your head. Now!”

As Eugene scrambled to follow his instructions, Felicity could see why - there Diggle stood, muscles bulging against his suit menacingly, gun out and pointed at Eugene. He looked huge and coiled to attack at the slightest provocation.

It was quite the sight.

She turned to Eugene, now prone on the ground. “See, _that's_ presence. You can't fake that.”

Diggle moved forward, gun still trained as he knelt to put his knee on Eugene’s back.

“Don't hurt him!” Felicity blurted. “He's harmless.”

Diggle looked up at her like she was crazy, but he paused nonetheless. “He was trying rob you.”

Diggle had correctly interpreted the overall situation, if not Eugene’s attempt to save her from falling. “Yeah, but he was really bad at it.”

“She's right, I was awful,” Eugene agreed with her eagerly.

“And he was trying to help,” she added.

“I was, I swear.”

Diggle shook his head. “Don't move,” he said to Eugene as he moved toward Felicity.

“Absolutely, I’m good here.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “Eugene, you can go.”

Eugene’s eye darted between her and Diggle, who glared. “Um.”

“Go!” she insisted, and he didn't have to be told a third time. He scrambled up and made a beeline for the street. “And go to the shelter!” she called to his retreating back. He waved as he went around the corner.

Diggle eyed her, and she frowned. “Don't look at me like that, it was the right call.”

He didn't respond, just crouched in front of her and hummed judgmentally, putting his gun on the ground next to them where he could reach it quickly.

Gently looking her over, he reached for her blouse, which already had a gathering blood stain. “Okay?”

She nodded. “How did you know to come find me?”

“I felt a sudden and intense mix of caffeine-deprivation and righteous anger. I figured it had to be you and followed it.”

She laughed, ignoring the sting in her side. “Seriously though.”

“I am being serious,” he replied, and stilled.

She followed his eyes down to her side, where he had lifted her blouse to look at her wound. She saw where the dumpster had scraped her, but she realized that it wasn't what held his attention. Instead it was her mark, located just above her hip and about the size of a quarter, black-colored and in the shape of an arrow.

He gave her a smile, bright and warm. “I have one just like this on my shoulder.”

“I knew it!” she said triumphantly. “I knew you were my person.”

He reached out and put his hand on her cheek, the moment turning surprisingly emotional as she realized she wasn’t as alone in the world as she thought. She gripped his hand in return, meeting his dark brown eyes and giving him a watery smile in gratitude.

Diggle was kind enough to ignore her tears, squeezing her hand briefly before returning his attention to her side. “This isn't too bad. You may only need a few stitches.”

“No,” she whined, drawing it out. She dreaded it and the tetanus shot and the round of antibiotics that were surely in her future.

He lifted her to her feet (and she marveled quietly to herself at that kind of strength), and put his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get you to a clinic.”

He suddenly grinned. “Then there’s some people you should meet.”

Puzzled, she looked up him to see if he would elaborate, but he didn’t. He seemed really amused at something, but he didn’t share, so she chose to let it go for the moment. Instead, she huffed down at her uneven steps. “Can we stop for some shoes on the way? I look like an idiot.”

He laughed and agreed, and led her out of the alley.

And that’s how she found John Diggle.


End file.
